Curacao
Curacao: History, Political System
History of the island
According to Digopaul.com,
the island was first discovered by the Europeans in 1499 by Alonso de Ojeda -
an officer of Columbus. Because of the physically large natives, the Spanish
named the island "Isla de los Gigantes". Later they named the island Curazon =
heart. Carthographers of the Portuguese leaders in this field at the time turned
it into Curacau and Carucao on their maps.
After its discovery, the island remained in the possession of Spain until 1634,
when it was conquered by the Dutch. From the end of the 17th century to the
beginning of the 19th century, ownership of the island then changed between the
English and the Dutch. France also tried to take possession of the island from
time to time, but they could be dissuaded from it by large sums of money. The
island was in English possession since 1807 and then finally came to the
Netherlands in 1815. They were part of the Netherlands Antilles. In 1954, the
status was changed to give Curacao autonomy in internal affairs.
Politics, current status
Since the dissolution of the Netherlands Antilles on October 10, 2010, the
island of Curaçao forms the Kingdom of the Netherlands together with " Sint
Maarten ", "Aruba " and the "Netherlands in Europe".
The islands of Bonaire, Sint Estatius and Saba in the Caribbean also belong to
the "Netherlands in Europe" - as so-called "Special Communities".
Curacao is an autonomous part of the Kingdom of the Netherlands with the Dutch
queen or king as head of state.
National anthem
The national anthem of Curacao was composed in 1898 by the monk Fr. Radulphu,
who came from the Netherlands, and set to music in the 1930s by Father Candidus
Nouwens. The current text of the hymn comes from Guillermo Rosario, Mae
Henriquez, Enrique Müller, Betty Doran from 1978, as the old one was too
colonial:
Hymn of Curaçao - in Papiamentu - Himno di Korsou
The hymn has eight stanzas, of which only the first two are usually sung. In a
free English translation:
- Let our voices lift up and sing
the greatness of Curacao;
Curaçao, small island,
a rock in the sea!
- Curaçao we love you
above all peoples.
We sing your glory
with all our hearts.
National flag
Based on flag descriptions by
Countryaah.com, the national flag of Curacao has a blue background with a yellow stripe in the
lower part and two white - different sized - five-pointed stars in the upper
left part.
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